Dictionary

whimberry en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɪmˌbɛɹi/ (General-American) wine–whine merger
• (Southern-England) audio
• (General-American) audio
• /ˈʍɪmˌbɛɹi/ (General-American)
• /ˈʍɪmbəɹi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈwɪmbəɹi/ (Received-Pronunciation) wine–whine merger

Etymology

From earlier winberry, a variant of wineberry with regular shortening of the first vowel before a consonant cluster (in wineberry this was prevented or reversed due to analogy). Wineberry is derived from Middle English winberie, wineberie (“grape; type of berry”), from Old English wīnberġe, wīnberie (“grape”, literally “wine-berry”), from Proto-West Germanic *wīnabaʀi, from Proto-Germanic *wīnabasją (“grape; wineberry”), from *wīną (“wine”) (from Latin vīnum (“wine”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to twist, wind; etc.”), referring to the vine) + *bazją (“berry”) (further etymology unknown). The assimilation of /nb/ to /mb/ seen in some forms is to be expected (compare hemp from Old English henep). Other forms show the influence of unrelated words; the consonantism of forms with initial wh- is probably due to the influence of whin (“furze, gorse (Ulex europaeus); similar prickly plant”), while windberry clearly represents remodelling as wind + berry.

Meanings

1. (UK, dialectal) The bilberry or whortleberry (Vaccinium myrtillus).
   • The lovely pink bloom of the whimberry stalk drops on the turf as the inner part knits itself into hard, green, beady fruit, whilst the leafage changes from a soft green to yellowish brown. 1900, Helen Brierley, Morgan Brierley, a Memoir: With a Selection from His Writings, Rochdale: James Clegg, page 260:
   • She made whimberry tarts and we ate them with thick, yellow cream until we were tight as drums. 2011 December 30, Nina Bawden, In My Own Time: Almost an Autobiography, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN, page 38:
   • Another variable species: when fed upon whimberry or cowberry it is a most distinct-looking insect, often with the white patches placed in a triangle, one on the disk, one on the hind margin, and the usual one: no band. 1871, C. S. Gregson, “Varieties and Aberrations of Lepidoptera”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Entomologist, volume V, London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., page 75:

Forms